Insightful Insights

Here is an excerpt from George Soros’ (arguably the world’s most successful hedge fund manager) speech delivered last week at the Global Economic Symposium, in Kiel, Germany:

“My conceptual framework consists of universally valid generalizations; therefore its usefulness in explaining or predicting the political economy is strictly limited. But as a hedge fund manager I have used it to develop specific theories about specific situations and my performance record testifies to their usefulness. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Insightful Insights.

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RogerMontgomery.com subscribers can read our in-depth analysis of OzForex in this month’s exclusive white paper later this week.

Despite the buoyancy in the stock market over the past 12 months, we have been surprised to see so few new businesses apply for listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rising markets, maturing term deposits and low cash rates are a good recipe for companies with IPO plans. Investors, who are likely to be more open about putting their hard-earned savings to work rather than reinvesting them in low yielding term deposits, may be keen to take on a little more by investing in companies that are angling to take the IPO plunge. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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Boart Longyear (ASX: BLY) owns the world’s largest fleet of drilling equipment, and in doing so has amassed considerable debt. The downturn in the mining sector brought the company perilously close to breaching its debt covenants, and while management was able to refinance the debt earlier this week, we are unconvinced that this has given the company a lot of breathing space. continue…

by Ben MacNevin Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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News headlines are today fixated on the US Congress leaving itself just one day to end a budget stalemate surrounding another possible breach of the debt ceiling on Oct. 17. continue…

by Russell Muldoon Posted in Insightful Insights.

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Ansell (ASX: ANN) is a company that has grown its earnings by 7 per cent a year for the past 6 years. But rather than doing it organically, it has primarily done this by purchasing other companies. continue…

by Ben MacNevin Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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Despite the intention of the authorities, Chinese consumption is not growing as fast as GDP. The release of the August 2013 global crude steel output by Worldsteel demonstrates China’s commitment to Fixed Asset Investment. The obsession with expenditure on low yielding fixed assets continues at pace and is one of the reasons the Shanghai Composite Index is currently 64 per cent below its October 2007 record high. continue…

by David Buckland Posted in Economics, Insightful Insights.

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In this article in Cuffelinks newsletter, Roger analyses Ben Graham’s ‘voting’ and ‘weighing’ machines. Read here.

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Insightful Insights, On the Internet.

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It was a rather gloomy week of economic data releases – total job advertisements in Australia and New Zealand were down by 2 per cent for the month of August, while unemployment rose from 5.7 per cent to 5.8 per cent over the same period. And yet the share price of Seek, Australia’s leading employment classifieds website owner, has risen by 1.7 per cent over the week. That raises the question; why are the rising unemployment headlines not having the same adverse impact on the company’s performance as they once did? continue…

by Ben MacNevin Posted in Companies, Economics, Insightful Insights, Value.able.

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A few months ago, with their shares trading for $3.80, we asked the question: “Is $5 unreasonable for Ainsworth?” After the subsequent, high quality profit announcement for 2013, and very bright prospects indicated by management for 2014, we believe $5.00 in the next 12-24 months, might not be unreasonable at all. continue…

by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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With record low interest rates helping to focus investor attention on the property market, and James Packer directing some surplus cash into US online real estate investments, one little-known company that has received some renewed attention recently is Onthehouse Holdings Limited (OTH). continue…

by Tim Kelley Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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